Category: Tax Dodging

The Irish taxman has managed to uncover and collect €572.6m in unpaid tax last year, an average of €1,000 per case according to the latest official figures. The data for 2018 shows Revenue officials “intervened” a total of 572,785 times during the year, with around 99% of taxpayers willingly handing...

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has revealed six tricks that multinational firms use to dodge paying tax. One of the schemes involves the firms exporting very cheaply and importing good very expensively. The authority reports that most firms also under-declare they pay to expatriates a move that reduces their profits and...

US multinational corporations are plundering the populations of the United States and the world to the tune of trillions of dollars by driving down and evading taxes on profits booked overseas. This is the conclusion that emerges from a recent study by University of California at Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman...

Internal Revenue Commission is now in partnership with an international auditing organisation to help tackle multinationals that are avoiding paying taxes, Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel, pictured, says. He said that Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), under its ‘tax inspectors without borders’ programme, would help IRC...

On the list of countries operating CBI/RBI schemes, that the OECD feels have the potential to be used for tax dodging, are 2 tax havens that are popular with wealthy Canadians and large Canadian companies. These are Barbados and Panama. Ottawa (19 Oct. 2018) — New information from the Organization...

The automatic exchange of information between Switzerland and the European Union came into effect on Monday. Owning property abroad without declaring it will no longer be possible. The deadline of September 30 ended the possibility of coming forward voluntarily, reported Swiss public television, RTS, on Sunday. For latecomers who have...

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is all set to launch a major crackdown against individuals with concealed and untaxed offshore assets from next week as the revenue body bets on financial information shared under an international treaty, officials said on Friday. The officials said the FBR finalised the...

The Internal Revenue Service’s Bank Secrecy Act program, in which it is supposed to safeguard against money laundering, is having only a minimal impact on tax compliance, according to a new report. The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, noted that the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting...

Switzerland’s Supreme Court has ordered the country’s authorities to turn over information on HSBC accounts with the Indian government regarding two of its citizens. Both clients had fought the release on the grounds that India’s request for assistance in a tax-dodging probe arose from stolen bank data. The case involved...

The Zurich-based Neue Privat Bank (NPB) has paid $5 million (CHF5 million) fine to settle a criminal tax evasion investigation in the United States. NPB is one of a handful of so-called ‘category 1’ Swiss or Swiss-based bank branches that were still facing sanctions at the start of this year....

KARACHI: The central bank’s rules to restrict access of the non-filers to foreign currency accounts would gradually clean up untaxed money from the banking system, although it may hurt much-needed forex inflows in the short run, analysts and bankers said. Analysts said foreign currency accountholders have been facing intensifying scrutiny...

If all countries have access to info about final beneficiaries, MNCs will not be able to fraudulently assign profits to tax havens Can you imagine how much governments all over the world could improve public services like education, healthcare and access to publicly provided clean drinking water and sanitation with...

President Moon Jae-in has criticized tax evasion as an antisocial act that undermines social fairness and justice. He called on related agencies to form a joint investigation team and draft cooperative measures against attempts to evade tax through illegal concealment of assets overseas. Chairing a meeting with his top aides...

The United Kingdom’s parliament has enacted a new law requiring its overseas territories — which include notorious tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands — to start disclosing by 2020 the owners of corporations they register. This could shut down a huge amount of offshore...

Plans before MPs tomorrow would impose greater transparency on secretive paradise hideaways Offshore tax havens could be forced to open their books to scrutiny under plans before MPs tomorrow. Ministers are set to come under mounting pressure to impose greater transparency on secretive paradise hideaways as the Commons debates an...

US taxpayers who have failed to declare their offshore money will lose the chance to confess to the Internal Revenue Service later this year. The IRS has announced that the Overseas Voluntary Disclosure Program will close on September 28. In the 10 years the OVDP has run, 56,000 taxpayers have...

Tax defaulters and prospective taxpayers have been advised to seize the opportunity provided by the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) or risk being exposed through data and a series of information-sharing agreements to which Nigeria is a signatory. The advice was given in Lagos yesterday at a one-day...

Cisco Korea may have to share its key financial information starting next year as the government aggressively pushes to tackle the lack of transparency and tax-dodging practices by foreign enterprises, according to industry sources, Tuesday. “Though there still is much to be seen about the application of the revision, it...

The increased number of inspections at food service establishments this summer appear to have paid off in areas with high rates of tax dodging by enterprises. According to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, bars and restaurants are no longer the worst offenders in terms of tax evasion. This unenviable...

HMRC is probing at least two Manchester United players over potential image rights tax dodging, as reported by the Daily Mail. The tax avoidance allegedly occurred under an agreement in the 2014-2015 season, where clubs could pay up to a fifth of their footballers’ total pay packages to ‘image rights’...

Bill would require private companies with more than $100m in turnover to publicly release tax information Six hundred of Australia’s biggest private companies could finally be forced to publish their high-level tax information, under a new push by Labor to repair a notorious piece of legislation. Labor will introduce a...

BHP has defended its Singapore marketing hub, where it is accused of routing profits, and says it is confident of its position in a $1 billion dispute with the Australian Taxation Office over the amount of taxes payable on the sale of Australian commodities to its Singapore marketing business. BHP’s...

A new report from Transparency International has revealed that more than US$2.7 billion worth of property in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, is hidden behind shell companies, many of which have close links to the United Kingdom, which has many offshore tax havens in its overseas dependencies. Using newly released...

A new report from Transparency International has revealed that more than US$2.7 billion worth of property in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, is hidden behind shell companies, many of which have close links to the United Kingdom, which has many offshore tax havens in its overseas dependencies. Using newly released...

Accounting firm’s contracts with federal government questioned. A former client of the accounting giant KPMG says a tax dodge that involved wealthy people gifting their money to an offshore jurisdiction was a “facade” designed to hide money from the taxman. The client, who spoke to CBC’s the fifth estate and...

Thousands of properties in Cyprus that have not been declared to the Tax Department have been discovered during a revaluation exercise by the Department of Lands and Surveys according to the island’s Interior Minister. The general assessment of immovable property valuations formed part of the Memorandum of Understanding between Cyprus...

If the referendum passes, all public servants and elected officials in Ecuador will be barred from holding wealth in offshore accounts. As Ecuador heads to the polls Sunday to elect a new president and National Assembly, deciding the fate of President Rafael Correa’s 10-year Citizens’ Revolution, the small South American...

The creation of a new United Nations tax body to clamp down on tax dodging, which experts say could cost developing countries more than $200 billion a year in missed revenues, will be a key priority of the Group of 77 and China under Ecuadorian leadership, according to the country’s...

A parliamentary drive to force greater transparency on the UK’s offshore tax havens is being led by former Commons spending watchdog chairwoman Dame Margaret Hodge and ex-international development secretary Andrew Mitchell. The pair, backed by scores of MPs from across the Commons and supported by an alliance of charities, are...

The Government is planning unilateral action to crack down on tax dodging by multinational companies, including changing the law, amid growing concern about fairness. Revenue Minister Michael Woodhouse said proposals outlined in a cabinet discussion document tabled last month would see Inland Revenue properly armed to tackle the problem and...

Four UK territories in list ‘undermine Britain’s efforts to be responsible member of the international community’ Bermuda is the world’s worst corporate tax haven, according to a list by Oxfam, which includes three other UK territories among those it names and shames. The charity’s list of the “world’s worst” 15...

Amazon effectively offers a safe haven for businesses that want to avoid sales tax, German revenue officials told Handelsblatt on condition of anonymity. In June, authorities raided eight Amazon locations across Germany as part of an investigation into a Chinese trader who had sold goods through the online marketplace without...

Panama can remain a competitive financial center while cracking down on tax evaders and other criminals who have used the country to launder money, according to the panel formed by the government after the “Panama Papers” scandal broke in April. The five-member “Committee of Independent Experts”, including a former boss...

Proposed legislation is designed to curb the profit-shifting multinationals use to reduce tax liabilities on their income in Europe The European commission will redouble its crackdown on multinational tax avoidance next week with the relaunch of proposals to create an overarching corporation tax regime across all member states. The proposed...

Staff at the corporation could face demands for unpaid taxes if they are found to have been incorrectly listed as self-employed. HMRC says it is looking at tax records of around 100 BBC staff About 100 current and former BBC presenters are being investigated over claims they have not paid...

In 2015, more than 73 percent of Fortune 500 companies maintained subsidiaries in offshore tax havens, according to “Offshore Shell Games,” released today by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Collectively, multinationals reported booking $2.5 trillion offshore, with just...

The Indian government has sent out about 700,000 notices to suspected tax evaders to coax them to declare hidden income and assets, promising they won’t be pursued by the authorities if they pay a penalty now to clear their name. But, as the four-month campaign draws to a close this...

A report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has criticised the Department for International Development’s (DfiD) approach to tackling tax avoidance and its alleged failure to achieve value for money on HMRC collaboration DfiD has failed in its efforts to fully include developing countries so that they benefit...

Five months after the Panama Papers exposed the offshore dealings of government leaders and influential people, a new leak of 1.3 million files has revealed the names of individuals associated with companies registered in the Bahamas, a notorious tax haven. The files – received by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung...

Ecuador’s foreign minister, leading economists and campaigners call for a new U.N. body to root out tax evaders and crack down on offshore havens. Ecuador ramped up its fight against tax dodging Wednesday as the South American country proposed a plan on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in...

Back in July, ABC’s The Business and Michael West featured an extraordinary raft of allegations from a 32-year veteran industry insider turned whistleblower, George Rozvany, who claimed that multinational tax avoidance was “out of control” and cost the Budget up to $50 billion dollars a year in lost revenue. Rozvany...

European Union countries should better coordinate tax rules to avoid hitting corporations too hard, the Slovak presidency of the European Union has proposed. This would be an effort to provide more balance to an EU campaign against tax avoidance by multinational companies. The proposal will be discussed at an informal...

Salford Council has joined the other 14 councils from across the UK that have adopted motions to support ethical procurement. Moved by Labour and Co-operative councillor Jim King, the recent motion strengthens checks in the council’s procurement to exclude businesses that engage in tax avoidance. The initiative falls in line...

Despite Western opposition, the 134-member Group of 77 is continuing to pursue a longstanding proposal for an inter-governmental UN-affiliated tax body aimed at combating corporate tax dodging and curbing illicit financial flows, including money laundering and off-shore banking. The proposal has already been shot down twice by Western nations, first,...

OXFAM has called for action to close a legal loophole that has seen a booming number of Scottish shell firms used for tax dodging and money laundering. The global charity warned that the country was becoming one of the world’s “secret tax havens where the privileged minority hide billions from...

The European Union, faced with mounting anti-establishment furor from populist parties across the region, is speeding up efforts to thwart tax dodging after the Panama Papers leaks and wants its blacklist of tax havens ready next year. “The recent leaks exposed loopholes that still allow tax evaders to hide funds...

Tax dodgers in Greece enjoy multiple benefits: They pay less tax, they avoid social security contributions, they can protect their main residence from confiscation and have access to a number of social benefits, ranging from free nursery places for their children to various allowances. The temptation to declare an income...

Multinationals suspected of routing Australian profits via Singapore will be outed to tax authorities, with the low-tax nation this week signing up to the global plan to fight tax evasion. Companies including big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto as well as technology giants Apple and Google, have admitted using...